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Which is the best institution for opening IRA? I am most likely going for Roth IRA (34 year old)
Also banks like Wells provide options to go for aggressive investment to moderate to just pure CDs etc
What is the current trend? Bonds/treasury only investment?
Pls suggest few alternatives like non-banks (vanguard or fidelity).. Also provide a few pro-cons of the plans
I do the research on my own (don't need much hand holding) and avoid the highway robbery fees of banks (or load mutual fund companies) for investing in an IRA.....low cost providers like Vanguard/TIAA Creff are excellent choices....
What to invest in is a question I nor anyone can answer for you blindly unless they know a ton of information....if you need alot of help and cannot do the research, I suggest you look into fee only financial advisors for starters...(you can also go onto the financial investing section of c/d for a wealth of help also...)
Location: Between Belmont & Cramerton, North Carolina
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Originally Posted by ADA_NC
Which is the best institution for opening IRA? I am most likely going for Roth IRA (34 year old)
Also banks like Wells provide options to go for aggressive investment to moderate to just pure CDs etc
What is the current trend? Bonds/treasury only investment?
Pls suggest few alternatives like non-banks (vanguard or fidelity).. Also provide a few pro-cons of the plans
Here's my take:
- Regular 401(k) (if available) and Roth IRA at your age
- Roth IRA: Vanguard. I'm a very satisfied customer
- At your age it would be 80% equities, 20% bonds. Use a Vanguard Target Retirement Fund if you want to keep it simple: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/fun...RetirementList
- Bank: USAA Checking - https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_utils/...0_FreeChecking . I'm a very satisfied customer. Tons better than Wells or Bank of America, 10 free ATM withdrawals / month and they pay the fees other providers may charge.
....
- At your age it would be 80% equities, 20% bonds. ....
This is bad advice now. Don't put your money in equities as the market has been destroyed by HFT and no longer reflects the productive output of the companies represented. The old advice of buy and hold of stocks is a losing proposition these days.
Stay away from the investment whatevers from the too big to fail banks. If you go there you can kiss your retirement goodbye.
I recommend reading zerohedge for a while before you make any decisions. BTW, and IRA can be many types of investments an not just those promoted by financial institutions.
Fidelity or vanguard are good choices...if you are un-sure of what to do then there are a number of very good newsletters devoted to those fund families with model portfolios you can pick from depending on your risk level and goals.
If you do not want to do your own research then the above advice is the best I think you'll get.
Actually I'd suggest that a person get some financial literacy BEFORE visiting a financial advisor. When you enter the world of finance the only real protection you have is your own knowledge. If you don't have some level of financial literacy, you really can't evaluate the advice a financial advisor is giving you. People need to remember IT'S THEIR MONEY! You are much better served having the knowledge to know what the risks are when you make an investment decision than blindly trusting another individual.
18 months is to short to determine anything in long term investments. this decade bonds up big time, gold did great up 400%, mid-caps up 50% did nicely, reits did well........
the key was just diversify and leave it alone.. dont try to time whats next. if you have an asset class that drops, rebalancing every year over time will make it okay anyway.
Last edited by mathjak107; 09-08-2010 at 10:16 AM..
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